Why This Matters to Distributors: Home Depot is doubling down on the professional customer, the largest battleground between retailers and wholesale distributors. By integrating leadership across Pro operations, technology, merchandising and customer experience, the company is positioning itself to compete more aggressively for contractors, facilities managers and maintenance professionals through a unified digital platform, expanded fulfillment capabilities and artificial intelligence.
Home Depot has reorganized its executive leadership structure to accelerate growth among professional customers, expand the use of artificial intelligence and create a more integrated shopping experience as the retailer seeks to capture a larger share of the $1.2 trillion home improvement market.
The Atlanta-based company announced Thursday that it has realigned leadership responsibilities across merchandising, customer experience, finance, Pro operations, and technology around three priorities: strengthening its core business, improving its interconnected retail experience, and expanding its Pro business.
“To capture greater share of this enormous opportunity, our focus is clear: drive our core and culture, deliver a frictionless interconnected experience and win the Pro,” CEO Ted Decker said.
The restructuring further aligns Home Depot’s retail and distribution operations following its acquisitions of SRS Distribution and HD Supply. The company said its Pro network now includes more than 2,360 stores, about 1,300 branch locations, 325 customer-facing warehouses and approximately 16,000 delivery vehicles serving contractors, maintenance professionals, and institutional customers.
At the center of the changes is the creation of the office of pro acceleration, replacing the company’s Office of Integration. The new organization, led by executive vice president and chief financial officer Richard McPhail, will coordinate strategy across Home Depot Pro, HD Supply, SRS, and Construction Resources.
The company said the office will focus on developing shared capabilities across those businesses, including a common customer relationship management platform, a unified product catalog and integrated fulfillment operations designed to simplify purchasing for professional customers.
Home Depot estimates the addressable market for professional customers at about $700 billion, encompassing general contractors, specialty trades, maintenance, repair and operations professionals, and multifamily property managers.
The company also expanded the role of its technology organization as it increases investment in artificial intelligence and digital capabilities. Earlier this year, Home Depot appointed Fran Bell executive vice president and chief technology officer, combining artificial intelligence, data science, product management, user experience, and technology under a single organization. As part of the latest restructuring, store, supply chain, and Pro technology teams will also report to Bell.
Home Depot said the move is intended to speed up the development and deployment of recent technology across stores, supply chain operations, and customer-facing platforms.
The retailer also consolidated its customer experience, ecommerce, financial services, and loyalty organizations under executive vice president of interconnected retail Jordan Broggi. Bringing those functions together will allow Home Depot to deliver more personalized offers, loyalty programs and digital experiences as customers increasingly move between stores, websites and mobile applications, the company said.
On the merchandising side, Home Depot integrated its private brands organization into its core merchandising group under executive vice president of merchandising Billy Bastek. The retailer said the change will improve product alignment and accelerate the introduction of new products and exclusive brands.
The restructuring reinforces Home Depot’s long-term strategy of combining retail stores, specialty distribution businesses, digital commerce, and technology into a single enterprise serving both do-it-yourself consumers and professional buyers. For wholesale distributors, the move signals that competition for contractors and institutional customers will increasingly be shaped by integrated technology, data, fulfillment capabilities, and customer experience rather than product availability alone.
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